Thoughts on farming in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia and beyond

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Government pushes Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act - Judge rules that government broke the law

Growing
grain has had a resurgence on some island farms, but it isn't of the
scale that would compare to farms in the Peace River or the prairies.
Even though the bread basket of Canada seems far away from the Gulf
Islands, and even if you aren't a farmer at all, there are good
reasons to pay attention to what is happening beyond our shores.

Farmers
in the prairies and Peace River area who produce barley or wheat for
export or human consumption currently must sell and market through
the Canadian Wheat Board. When the Conservatives achieved their
majority government, they promptly set out to fulfill their election
promises, one of which was to remove the single-desk selling
authority of the Canadian Wheat Board. Minister Ritz announced that
regardless of any farmer vote that would be held, this would occur.
The CWB went ahead and conducted a vote of farmers anyways, which
resulted in a majority of farmers wanting the single desk retained.
This vote was ignored by the government. The Conservative majority
pushed through the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, intending
to repeal the Canadian Wheat Board Act later in 2012. Already they have
eliminated all farmer-elected Board members, leaving five
government-appointed Board members.

Who
benefits from this? The government would have us believe that
farmers want this, but without a properly conducted plebiscite all we
have are anecdotal comments on either side; some farmers think we are
missing out on opportunities because we are not fulfilling our full
potential as a grain producer and major exporter, others think that
the CWB has been instrumental in helping Canadian farmers market
their grain in way that farmers themselves have demanded, and the CWB
farmer vote verifies this support.

Many
economists and industry observers believe that the major
multinational agribusiness companies and transporters have the most
to gain, and farmers will only see their piece of the pie get
smaller. Our system of producing and marketing grain will
increasingly resemble the US system – farms will get bigger, more
small farms will be absorbed by the big farms, shrinking rural
communities. Fifteen to twenty years ago, the multinationals parked
themselves in Canada, waiting for the CWB demise and the
opportunities to market Canadian grain. I remember Cargill coming to
UBC’s Faculty of Agriculture in the early 1980’s to recruit a
number of graduates. Who is Cargill?, we asked, since we were far
from any grain growing area. The current land-grabbing activities
that are occurring worldwide will no doubt accelerate in the prairies
with the march of progress.

That
was why the CWB was formed in the first place. Farmers wanted an
orderly way to market grain for a fair price so that they could focus
on farming. At first the government wasn’t interested, not until
the depression, and in 1935 the Canadian Wheat Board was formed as a
voluntary marketing agency to help get rid of surplus wheat when the
prices were very low. In 1943, the CWB played an important role in
supplying grain to our European allies and stopping the domestic
inflation of grain prices, and it was given the exclusive right to
purchase and sell wheat. After that, the CWB played a vital role in
developing our agricultural potential in Canada.

As
markets have modernized, there have been pressures on Canada to
dismantle the CWB. Some farmers agree and would prefer an open
market to sell to whoever they wish. Many of these farmers are
younger, and perhaps feel they are ready to move on from their father
and grandfather’s method of marketing. Some farmers would prefer
to stay with the CWB as a single-desk seller in these uncertain
times, which is especially seen by the majority of farmer-elected
board members who support the single-desk selling mandate. The best
people to decide are the farmers themselves, and the Canadian Wheat
Board Act supports this.

Federal
Court Justice Douglas Campbell agreed, and ruled in December that
Minister Ritz overstepped his boundaries by not holding a farmer
plebiscite or consulting with the CWB, breaching Section 47.1 of the
Canadian Wheat Board Act. Regardless of how you feel about the Wheat
Board, or if you don’t care about the Wheat Board at all, you
should care about how our elected officials conduct themselves. We
expect the lawmakers to follow our country's own laws. They
certainly expect us to.

As
this debate has been around for several years the two sides have
become increasingly polarized, ignoring the discussion of options
that could perhaps be beneficial in the long run. One suggestion has
been to retain the single desk CWB for export markets, and allow a
free market system domestically or within North America. Some think
that the vote should determine if barley should be excluded from the
CWB control, as had happened with oats several years ago. Most
economists agree that a dual system across the board will result in
the demise of the CWB.

At
this point farmers have only uncertainty. Without a smooth
transition and with a court ruling against the government, farmers
aren’t sure about being ready to have a free market by this summer.
Like children of a bad divorce, farmers just want to get on with
farming and want to believe the outcome will benefit them. Many who
supported the CWB have the added angst of working within a market
system they did not choose, and the added uncertainty of a bumpy
transition and a government screw up.

Not
a good way to start the New Year. Here’s hoping the economists are
wrong, for the farmer’s sake.